Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) questioned soon-to-be House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's, D-Calif., commitment to eradicating corruption with her endorsement of one of the most unethical members in Congress, Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., to be majority meader of the House of Representatives.

Murtha was listed in CREW's report, "Beyond DeLay: The 20 Most Corrupt Members of Congress (and five to watch)." As reported in the study and by the news media, Murtha has been involved in a number of pay-to-play schemes involving former staffers and his brother, Robert "Kit" Murtha.

Eight incumbents in CREW's report lost their races because of ethics issues.

"Future House Speaker Pelosi's endorsement of Rep. Murtha, one of the most unethical members of Congress, shows that she may have prioritized ethics reform merely to win votes with no real commitment to changing the culture of corruption," Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW said Monday. "How can Americans believe that the Democrats will return integrity to the House when future Speaker Pelosi has endorsed an ethically-challenged member for a leadership position? Rep. Murtha is the wrong choice for this job."

Not only is Murtha beset by ethics issues, the New York Times reported on Oct. 2 that he has consistently opposed ethics and earmark reform. Sloan continued, "Rep. Murtha's opposition to ethics reform does not bode well for future Speaker Pelosi's promise to enact ethics legislation in the first 100 hours of the new Congress."

You know, as we were all sending some cash to Irey to attempt to defeat this jerk (he won 60/40), I had not realized the formidable task that she was up against. Here, this turd is highly connected within the flawed RAT hierarchy, and may even emerge as #2 RAT stooge in the house.

Who knew?? In light of that, she did a fantastic job trying to rout this old windbag out of office!

Actually, I hope al-Mothra makes it. With his propensity to spew what he truly believes, and his overwhelming arrogance, I believe he would be a plus for the conservative movement, and inevitably a negative for the liberals, in the long run.

7
posted on 11/13/2006 4:54:05 PM PST
by technomage
(Protest Voters are ignorant, immature, selfish people who have no capacity for long term thinking)

I agree. Murtha is NOT going to fit well with most of Red State America. Be real interesting to watch this. We are being told how "Conservative" the new Democrats are. Well let see who they elect to their leadership positions.

I suspect a lot of the Freepers screaming about how "Conservative" the new Democrats are suddenly are going to wake up Thursday to the fact these people are always way MORE Democrat then they ever are Conservative.

15
posted on 11/13/2006 5:01:15 PM PST
by MNJohnnie
( People who see the glass half full win, those who see it half empty lose)

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif), incoming Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, is backing Rep. John Murtha (D-Penn) in the race for Majority Leader over Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.). Pelosi, in a letter distributed to newly elected House Democrats, wrote that Murtha's outspoken opposition to the murder and atrocities carried out by U.S. troops in the war in Iraq helped change the electoral campaign for the House this fall.

Murtha began denouncing U.S. troops as murderers, thugs and perverts a year ago. His open opposition to the war made him a focus of intense criticism from Republicans and the White House. But Pelosi credited Murtha with changing the national debate on the issue and helping provide Democratic challengers and incumbents with a winning argument for the elections.

"With respect to Iraq in particular, it was John Murthas courageous leadership that changed the national debate and helped change the tide of this historic election," Pelosi wrote. "Murthas leadership gave so many Americans the encouragement to voice their own disapproval of a failed policy that has terrorized the innocent women and children of Iraq. The enthusiastic response of Americans all across this nation gave an enormous lift to our Democratic efforts and produced millions of dollars which were new to the effort. Those resources made a huge difference."

News of Pelosis letter spurred Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass) to lodge an objection. Let me point out that it was I who revealed that U.S. troops were terrorizing women and children, Kerry said. Murtha was the one who called the troops cold-blooded murderers. While Speaker Pelosi may have made an honest mistake, I think it is important to keep the record straight. No one has been as aggressive as I have in denouncing the deficiencies of our troops. The American people should keep my leadership on this issue in mind as they weigh who they want to lead this nation as president after 2008.

I don't see too many liberals wanting to talk about this one. ------ What is really interesting is the effect this is going to have on military attitude and morale. Not only is a socialist-run Congress a HUGE negative, but putting these raving treasonous, anti-military shills like Murta in top Congressional seats....it is clear the libs do not give a damn about our military, our defense, our security --- AT ALL. This could be a great trump card to shorten the life of a ThugoRat Congress. 2008 is very important.

I saw this tonight, and My obvious prediction is that if Nancy pelosi smells even a hint of oposition from people over Murtha- she will throw him to the wolves so quickly his head will snap off which will be a bad thing because have you taken a look at the size of his honkin big head? Lotsa people will get crushed. Right now, He's fairly safe right now because CREW is seen as a 'right wing attack dog' by the MSM, BUT if CREW starts to make enough waves, and the story gets rolling, the MSM will be forced to cover it IF Nancy pelosi senses he's a poison pill- The MSM won't abandon their bread and butter Nancy. Look for some cannableism (sp?) soon

And yes I know CREW isn't really a 'right wing attack dog' however, since he's turned on Murtha- they'll be portrayed as such by the MSM UNTIL it looks like Murtha really is sunk- then, The MSM will sing the praises of CREW- ya know- which ever way the democratic wind blows, that's the direction the MSM rolls along.

His constituents aren't aware of his corruption because it's not being reported. My hometown newspaper endorsed this bloated windbag because he brings home the bacon and has lots of clout. If he were a Republican his malfeasance would be front page news. If he gets the House Majority whip position, he'll shoot himself in the foot. He's not used to being out from under the rock and in the limelight and the attention and the publicity are already going to his head. Watch him make some enormous gaffe that will make him look like an idiot. I predict he'll self-destruct.

CREW is a lot like the ACLU: They make an insincere token complaint against a democrat once in a blue moon. The naive interpret this as showing credibility. Notice the absence of Alcee Hastings (D, your wallet) on their list!

Last June, the Los Angeles Times reported how the ranking member on the defense appropriations subcommittee has a brother, Robert Murtha, whose lobbying firm represents 10 companies that received more than $20 million from last year's defense spending bill.

"Clients of the lobbying firm KSA Consulting -- whose top officials also include former congressional aide Carmen V. Scialabba, who worked for Rep. Murtha as a congressional aide for 27 years -- received a total of $20.8 million from the bill," the L.A. Times reported.

In early 2004, according to Roll Call, Mr. Murtha "reportedly leaned on U.S. Navy officials to sign a contract to transfer the Hunters Point Shipyard to the city of San Francisco."

Laurence Pelosi, nephew of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, at the time was an executive of the company which owned the rights to the land.

The same article also reported how Mr. Murtha has been behind millions of dollars worth of earmarks in defense appropriations bills that went to companies owned by the children of fellow Pennsylvania Democrat, Rep. Paul Kanjorski.

Meanwhile, the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan campaign-finance watchdog group, lists Mr. Murtha as the top recipient of defense industry dollars in the current 2006 election cycle.

National Security: Contrary to popular opinion, Rep. John Murtha, the ex-Marine who called for an immediate withdrawal from Iraq, is no hawk. He may also soon be probed for misusing defense appropriations.

"If you want anything done on the committee, you go to Murtha."

He's delivered so much pork to his congressional district, an airport and a major highway are named after Murtha.

Ashdown and his nonpartisan watchdog group criticized Murtha for using the $417 billion fiscal 2005 Pentagon spending bill to give business to his lobbyist brother.

The Los Angeles Times in June reported that Murtha funneled nearly $21 million to 10 or more corporate clients of KSA Consulting, where Robert "Kit" Murtha is a senior partner.

Carmen Scialabba, a Murtha congressional aide for 27 years, is also a high-ranking official at KSA.

The newspaper Roll Call reported that there might be a House ethics committee investigation of Murtha's apparent improprieties.

But is that possible now that Murtha has become the media's "hawk with a conscience?"

Come to think of it, could Murtha have been thinking about a possible ethics investigation when he decided to throw himself into the public limelight last week?

Federal prosecutors designated him an unindicted co-conspirator in the Abscam investigation 26 years ago.

I was reminded of it after Murtha became a candidate for majority leader, not by a Republican hit man but a Democratic former colleague in the House. In a long political career, Murtha has made bitter enemies inside his party who are alarmed by his new stature.

In 1980, the FBI named him as one of eight members of Congress videotaped being offered bribes by a phony Arab sheik.

The other seven targets took cash and were convicted in federal court.

The videotape showed Murtha declining to take cash but expressing interest in further negotiations, while bragging about his political influence.

Murtha testified against the popular Rep. Frank Thompson, which created lifelong enemies in the Democratic cloakroom.

The House Ethics Committee exonerated Murtha of misconduct charges by a largely party-line vote, after which the committee's special counsel resigned in protest."

Yep. They're making noise now so that they can appear "nonpartisan". I don't buy it, this is a nasty bunch. Note a certain Mr. Reid is not on this list but they manage to get the GOP leadership on there, don't they?

42
posted on 11/13/2006 6:04:27 PM PST
by AmishDude
(Libertarians didn't lose it for us. They're losers who work against what they claim to want.)

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